Ember Wind: Corrupted

Cave of Ashes

Darkness flooded the cave like a tsunami. The landside sealed out the warm daylight leaving the interior a cold and frigid stone tomb. Water pitter pattered off the stalagmites creating a soft and delicate echo amidst the silence. The air was motionless, stale and cold to the touch, the scent of death was carried from the inner bowls of the tunnels.

Tangurple slowly recovered from the crash landing, his head spinning endlessly. He pushed himself up, groaning in pain. His health was below half and upon realizing that, he pulled out one of his health potions and chugged it quickly. Naturally, it tasted like regurgitated lunch with newly discovered carrots.

As his health began rejuvenating, he stood up and tried looking around. His eyes struggled and strained themselves to find even the faintest glimmer of light and to no avail, he remained shrouded in darkness. The air began to move as a warm breath ran down his neck. Tangruple swung arm around and slammed it into the cave's wall. He groaned in pain, holding his hand. "Damn it..." he cursed.

A distant voice whispered, calling to him. It was male but not quite recognizable. He heard bits and pieces of his name like the source was from further in the cave and slowly dying. Fearing the worst, Tangurple ran towards the voice. The cave was still too dark to see and as expected, he slammed his head into a low hanging stalactite. The impact whipped him off his feet with a hard crash into the stone floor. "Creoft! I hate your designers!"

However, there was no response. Tangurple grabbed a nearby stalagmite and pulled himself to his feet. Still suffering a headache from the collision, Tangurple slowed himself down to a crawling pace. He used his hands and feet to discover obstacles and rocky tripping hazards. The tunnel began to narrow on him as he ventured deeper. The ground got softer, wetter.

Mud and clay seeped through the gaps in his armor. The tunnel forced him onto his hands and knees, crawling through it like a child in a playground. The moisture in the air in this part of the cave was warm and the ground itself was very warm. It was also very slick and slippery.

Tangurple never saw the drop. A sinkhole within the tunnel caused the once dead end to open up into the beast's belly. Without a moment to process the coming fall, Tangurple plummeted a dozen feet into a deep body of lukewarm water. The crashing of the water drowned out all other noise in the newly discovered room as he sank to the very bottom. Tangurple kicked off the muddy lake floor but instead sank his sabatons deep into the mud.

Creoft sat up, startled awake by some unknown reason. He was sweaty and covered in clay. He couldn't see anything around him, not even his own hand in front of his face. He heard a distant whisper whose voice seemed male to him. "Hello?" he reluctantly mumbled.

Suddenly, there was a large splash of water which rang throughout the tunnels. Creoft grabbed Dailin's maul and held it close. "Dev's never told me about a water monster in here. I also didn't expect to get trapped inside and live in perpetual darkness-"

"You don't expect much, do you?" The male voice was suddenly closer and much louder.

"What? Who are you?"

The voice moved in circles around him, "I am your own creation or rather, one of many. I know this 'Odis' didn't make the world, someone else who had the power did. Odis doesn't have power."

"How in the hell do you know this?"

"You don't think I've just been idly waiting for you and your outsider kind to just come and slaughter me, have you? I've been digging, hunting, searching for the answers you possess. That catholic friend of yours provided me with all the details I needed to track you down."

"I'll be damned, you're fully sentient. I didn't think that was even possible."

"You created this world, how could you not expect it to grow? You gave us enough mind to develop ourselves. You know what we are, we, however, know the wrong about ourselves."